home > Columns > Geekspeaks >
02/12/11 - My thoughts and observations from Saturdays visit to the Disneyland Resort.
 The Geek Speaks:

Welcome to the disneygeek.com Geek Speaks section. In this section I will post my comments on trips to the parks or other Disney related events.

02/12/11 - My thoughts and observations from Saturdays visit to the Disneyland Resort.

Hello all,

Saturday was a picture perfect weather day here in southern California with a crystal clear sky and temps starting out in the 60s, climbing up to the 80s then falling back down to the 60s. The parks and Downtown Disney felt crowded on Saturday, some in my group had not been since the Candlelight weekend in December and they thought Saturday felt more crowded. The wait times seemed a bit less to me, but due to the work going on and closed attractions/areas I think the park did feel more crowded than it was.

Jason

Trip logs and mileage reports are in the Park Miles section.

Disneyland & DCA Thoughts and Observations:

  • The new sign for the Let the Memories Begin campaign that is located in the Esplanade was interesting. I liked the retro look to bring back the old Disneyland sign that was on Harbor. But with the construction and crowds it really made the area feel small/crowded to me due to its large size. The scale just seemed off for the current space.

  • Once into Disneyland it was interesting to listen to everyones reaction as they were greeted by all the construction walls on Main Street. Most took it in stride and just kept on going. I thought the new pavement looked great and they seem to be moving faster this year than last time around (or maybe its just a clouded memory by all the paving work at DCA that was really slow due to the new rails being put in over there).

  • Out in Tomorrowland you are greeted by more walls for more paving. I thought it was interesting they shut down the Space Mountain Fastpass to try and manage the traffic flow better. I forgot to check but I was curious what this did to wait times. Did anyone happen to be at the park the last few days and notice? My hunch would be the wait times were less than usual for the size of the crowd since the line was able to keep moving with no Fastpass returns.

  • We ate lunch over at White Water Snacks since we had not been there in a while and were looking for a quiet place to invade (there were 8 of us). My meal turned out to be much better than it had been the past few trips, but overall the experience was not the best. First off the service was slow as usual with it taking quite a long time, forgot to time it but I would say a good 15 minutes at least, to have our food come up after ordering. One of the orders, the nachos, came out cold with the cheese solidified. We ended up using the microwave vs waiting on this one. Then another order had a childrens hamburger and as you saw in the pictures calling it a hamburger was generous and at the price we thought it was bordering on ridiculous. It was $6.50 for the kids meal, 50 cents more than the chicken nuggets and there was not much meet in the burger. I always thought you got two of the tiny burgers. The nuggets came with four. You did get a ton of grapes though and they were fresh.

  • Walked by the Carrousel and was disappointed to see the new hand holds and especially the steps. They really stood out to me. Also I guess I am too much of a traditionalist. Seems if it worked well for 55 years why change it. Betting the answer was lawyers, but possibly guest experience. I know it was not aesthetics.

  • Spent some time at the Family Fun Weekend, this week was Lunar New Years. There was a smaller selection of characters this week, just three groups. I thought there was a healthy crowd, more people than the first few weeks but less than the Character Days. I do not know how this compares to the Saturday crowds, also this was the second weekend for this theme. The rest of my traveling group had not been to a Family Fun Weekend before and they were not overly impressed. They made one circle around, took a character picture and then went to sit in the shade and wait for me (before they abandon me as I waited to video tape the show a second time) for the Jungle Cruise.

  • Stopped by the Gallery to check out the new exhibit titled Magic on the Waters. Great to see it timed with the new Disney Cruise ship launch. I thought it was a fun exhibit and need to go back to spend some more time reading the information (this trip I was rushed to get the pictures and rejoin my tour group, one of the compromises of a large group).

  • Walked through Downtown Disney to check out the Romance of the Big Band Era promotion that was going on this weekend. There were plenty of people roaming around and enjoying Downtown Disney (which I should point out just turned 10 years old too). I walked through a little too early for most of the entertainment as it was still just setting up. Also the pedicabs were just getting starting. They were cycling a few empty ones. Anyone around later in the evening, curious if they caught on and how it was with the larger crowds.

  • I was pleased to see the park guide listed all the entertainment choices for the Fun Weekend as it was the expanded four panel version again. Also noticed that the Pixar Pals section no longer says which one is performing that day. Just has the times and location. ElecTRONica listed Laser Man but no mention of the guest dance group (nor did I see any signs when I walked through).

  • Speaking of ElecTRONica there is a promotion going on with Gowalla.com where you can get a virtual ElecTRONica token and if you redeem it in front of a CM in Flynns Arcade you get a commemorative arcade token as well as a voucher for a free can coke (or other coke product) from the End of the Line Bar. Luckily some of our group had smart phones so we gave this a try (I do not). I thought it was a nice promotion and a great souvenir. They are numbered too, I got 259 out of 2500. This runs through the end of the month or while supplies last.

  • The group shocked me and opted to see the Magic, the Memories, and You over World of Color, kind of painful to watch out Fastpasses for the Blue and Yellow section go to waste at the last minute... I think this had more to do with them wanting to see Fantasmic and not wanting to walk through the firework masses on Main Street. Anyways I gave the show a second visit, third viewing. Again I thought it was ok but not overwhelming. Part of our group was lazy and watched from further down the Small World Mall and they said it was hard to make out the pictures from back there. The rest of us were near the front and had a good view with no problem and you could have shown up 5-10 minutes before the show and had your choice of locations almost, so it has not caught on yet. I thought the alignment seemed off in several spots, but it may just have been the angles.

  • Watched Fantasmic and was disappointed with the problems. There was no croc during the Peter Pan segment and the dragon did not show either. Plus the Mark Twain is out for some annual work. Still a great show but disappointing not to see some key elements. Keep in mind the show turns 19 this year, kind of scary to think of that, since I remember when it premiered!

Interesting Web Finds/Notes:
Below are some interesting links, notes, and rumors I found/stumble across/or have been informed of since the last Geekspeaks column.

Be sure to check out the picture update that goes with this Geekspeak column, it can be found in our Disneyland Resort Pictorial Update section

Stop by the Geek's Forum to discuss this and other Disney topics.. click here

Send comments, questions, any other email to: disneygeek@disneygeek.com
Back to previous page

 

Quick Note

Check out the geek speaks archive for past updates.

 

Interested in Helping out?

If you are a fellow disneygeek and interested in sharing your insights, pictures, thoughts drop us an email here we are always looking for contributors.